An Arab for his own use trains his horse to rack or 

 arable, canter or gallop. He abhors the trot — which to 

 him is the mark of the slavery of wheels. If a colt shows 

 an inclination to trot, he hobbles him with a rope from 

 his fore to his hind fetlock on either side, to force him to 

 pace. But the Arab does not know the fast rack, or 

 single-foot. The only people I am acquainted with who 

 have developed the so-called artificial paces of the horse 

 in a scientific way are our Southerners, though the Cretans 

 have the gait beyond any other Orientals. In Kentucky 

 a horse will often running-walk, rack, and trot perfectly, 

 and of course canter and gallop, with a crisp performance 

 of each gait. The Arabian has but an amble or a slow 

 rack — never more than one of these gaits. When taught 

 to trot, in which he never excels, his other gaits appear to 

 be lost. I once examined a number of horses for sale in 

 Cairo, averaging thirty to fifty pounds sterling each in 

 value, which price would be the equivalent of four to six 

 hundred dollars here. I was looked on as a hona fide 

 ])urchaser, and the traders were very eager to sell me an 

 animal. The horses were aU led out, mounted, and, to my 

 surprise, shown me on the trot. When I asked for a 

 canter, or a rack, they stared at me as a vara avis. Here 

 was a white man — a Frank — who did not want a trotter 

 for the saddle ! Allah be praised ! But I also found that 

 the training of each beast to trot had utterly ruined his 

 other gaits. He was all mixed up. Even his trot was not 



